ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A Baath-era security official was sentenced to death by the Iraqi High Tribunal on Sunday for his involvement in the Barzani Genocide in the 1980’s, the case’s lawyer told The New Region.

“One of the accused in the Barzani Anfal case was sentenced to death, while another suspect was released due to lack of sufficient evidence,” said Ayad Kakeyi, lawyer for the Barzani Genocide case.

The sentenced individual is Shakir Taha Ghafoor, a lieutenant in the Baathist security forces, charged with involvement in the disappearance and genocide of the Barzani tribe in Iraq’s southern deserts in 1983.

The released individual is Saadoun Sabri Jamil, another Baathist lieutenant.

The team of lawyers for the Barzani Genocide case has so far submitted the names of 61 suspects to the Iraqi High Tribunal.

According to the lawyer, the development marks the first time perpetrators of the genocide, who have confessed to the crimes, are brought to legal justice.

On July 31, 1983, Iraqi regime forces, on the orders of fallen dictator Saddam Hussein, abducted an estimated 8,000 members of the Barzani tribe from their homes in the Zagros Mountains, then executed them in the deserts of southern Iraq, burying them in mass graves.

The massacre was part of the Baath regime’s wider genocidal campaign against the Kurdish population called Anfal, during which over 182,000 Kurds were killed and thousands of Kurdish villages were wiped out and destroyed.

The Iraqi High Tribunal in May 2011 recognized the crimes committed against the Barzani population by the former regime as genocide and crimes against humanity under Article 12 of Iraq’s Law No. 10 of 2005, which tries Iraqi nationals or residents accused of war crimes during the Baath party’s reign.

Kurdish officials have repeatedly sought compensation for the victims’ families. The whereabouts of the remains of thousands of victims are yet to be found.